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DECISION

Promulgating the regulation on collection, synthesis, reporting, sharing and publication of information on foreign debts

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 134/2005/ND-CP of November 1, 2005, promulgating the Regulation on management of foreign loans and payment of foreign debts;

At the proposal of the Minister of Finance,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To promulgate together with this Decision the Regulation on collection, reporting, synthesis, sharing and publication of information on foreign debts.

Article 2.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO."

Article 3.- The Minister of Finance, the Governor of the Vietnam State Bank and the Minister of Planning and Investment shall implement, and guide and inspect the implementation of, the Regulation on collection, reporting, synthesis, sharing and publication of information on foreign debts promulgated together with this Decision.

Article 4.- Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, and presidents of provincial/municipal People's Committees shall implement this Decision.

Prime Minister

NGUYEN TAN DUNG

REGULATION ON COLLECTION, SYNTHESIS, REPORTING, SHARING AND PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION ON FOREIGN DEBTS

(Promulgated together with the Prime Minister's Decision No. 232/2006/QD-TTg of October 16, 2006)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Scope of regulation

This Regulation provides for the collection, synthesis, reporting, sharing and publication of information on the country's foreign debts, including:

a/ Collection and synthesis of, and reporting on, the conclusion of loan agreements, capital withdrawal, payment of the Government's and enterprises' foreign debts, capital re-lending and recovery of the Government's re-lent capital;

b/ Sharing of data and documents on foreign debts among concerned agencies;

c/ Publication of reports on foreign debts.

Article 2.- Purposes

1. To define responsibilities of concerned agencies and organizations in supplying reports and information on foreign loans and payment of foreign debts, capital re-lending and recovery of re-lent capital to ensure the close and prompt coordination among agencies in debt management and create conditions for state management agencies to well perform their tasks defined in the Regulation on management of foreign loans and payment of foreign debts promulgated together with the Government's Decree No. 134/2005/ND-CP of November 1, 2005 (below referred to as Decree No. 134/2005/ND-CP).

2. To step by step establish and constantly update the database on the country's foreign debts in order to analyze, forecast and supervise foreign debt indicators; formulate a national strategy on foreign borrowings, programs on management of medium-term debts, annual plans on foreign loans and payment of foreign debts, and debt limits; and supply and publish information on Vietnam's foreign debts.

3. To raise the effectiveness of financial management of the Government's foreign loan sources.

4. To ensure equality in accessing and using the published information on foreign debts.

5. To increase transparency and publicity in the process of international and regional economic integration; to make consistent data supplied to donors and investors of the international financial community.

Article 3.- Interpretation of terms

The terms referred to in this Regulation have the same meanings as those interpreted in Decree No. 134/2005/ND-CP. The terms below are construed as follows:

1. "Database on the country's foreign debts" means a collection of data and reports on implementation, assessment and analysis of the country's foreign debts which are stored in a systematic and organized manner in the form of data files on information-carrying objects such as computer discs, magnetic tapes, CD, DVD or written reports.

2. "Sharing of foreign debt information" means the exchange and supply of foreign debt information and databases among concerned agencies and organizations in order to assess, forecast and formulate in time strategies, policies and plans and meet information demands of other organizations and individuals, and, at the same time, to raise the effectiveness of state management of foreign loans and payment of foreign debts, and to make consistent the information supplied to donors and investors.

3. "Publication of foreign debt information" means the making available to the public of prompt and accurate information and databases on foreign debts in accordance with law.

4. "Official creditors" means governments of foreign countries or agencies representing governments and multilateral international financial institutions.

5. "Private creditors" means creditors not belonging to governments or the public sector.

Article 4.- The Ministry of Finance shall act as the Government's major body in performing the state management of the country's foreign debts; assume the prime responsibility for establishing and managing the database on the Government's foreign debts; synthesize the country's foreign loans and payment of foreign debts; publish and supply information on the Government's foreign loans and payment of foreign debts in accordance with law.

Article 5.- Classification of foreign debts

The country's foreign debts are collected, reported, shared and published according to the following major classification criteria:

1. Classification based on borrowers:

a/ The public sector's foreign debts, including the Government's foreign debts, foreign debts (if any) of administrations of provinces or centrally run cities, foreign debts of state enterprises, state financial and credit institutions or state economic organizations (below collectively referred to as state enterprises), which are directly owed to foreign countries;

b/ Foreign debts of the private sector.

2. Classification based on borrowing forms: Foreign debts include debts of official development assistance (ODA) and commercial loans.

3. Classification based on loan terms: Foreign debts include those from short-, medium- and long-term loans.

4. Classification based on creditors and creditor groups: Foreign debts include debts of:

a/ Official creditors, including bilateral creditors being governments or agencies representing governments, and multilateral creditors being multilateral international financial institutions;

b/ Private creditors, including commercial banks, bond owners and other private creditors.

Chapter II

COLLECTION, GENERAL REPORTING AND SHARING OF INFORMATION ON FOREIGN DEBTS

Article 6.- Principles of collecting data and making reports on foreign debts

The data collection and reporting on foreign debts must adhere to the following principles:

a/ The collected data and information on foreign debts must be truthful, objective, accurate, adequate and prompt. Information-supplying agencies shall take responsibility before law for the accuracy of the supplied information;

b/ Every concerned agency shall collect data and make reports on foreign debts within the scope of their responsibilities defined in Article 6 of the Regulation on management of foreign loans and payment of foreign debts promulgated together with Decree No. 134/2005/ND-CP;

c/ Foreign debt reports are made on the basis of synthesizing foreign loans and payment of foreign debts according to the foreign debt classification criteria specified in Article 5 and report forms in the appendices to this Regulation (not printed herein);

d/ Data in sum-up reports on foreign debts made by the Finance Ministry are expressed in Vietnam dong (VND) and US dollar (USD) on the basis of the exchange rate and foreign currency revenue-expenditure reports announced by the Finance Ministry. For sum-up reports whose data are made by other agencies in currencies other than Vietnam dong or US dollar, those currencies must be converted into Vietnam dong or US dollar at the exchange rates specified in report forms in the appendices to this Regulation (not printed herein).

Article 7.- Responsibility to collect information and make reports

1. The Finance Ministry shall collect data on the Government's foreign loans and enterprises' foreign loans guaranteed by the Government in order to make and supply the following reports on foreign debts:

a/ Reports made in accordance with Clauses 1, 2 and 4, Article 8 of this Regulation;

b/ The Government's foreign commercial-loan limits, total annual foreign commercial-loan limits of the public sector and the country;

c/ Reports and data to be supplied to donors and investors at their request in accordance with law or committed agreements;

d/ Reports made according to the forms in Appendix I to this Regulation (not printed herein).

2. The Vietnam State Bank shall collect data on enterprises' foreign loans in order to make and supply to the Finance Ministry the following reports on foreign debts:

a/ Reports made in accordance with Clause 3, Article 8 of this Regulation;

b/ Annual foreign commercial-loan limits of enterprises and organizations of the public sector, and forecasts of annual foreign loan limits of the private sector;

c/ Periodical reports on the international payment balance and foreign exchange reserve for supervising the country's foreign debt status as stipulated in the Regulation on formulation and management of the system of criteria for assessing and supervising the country's foreign debt status;

d/ Reports made according to the forms in Appendix II to this Regulation (not printed herein).

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall make reports according to its functions and tasks defined in Article 6 of the Regulation on management of foreign loans and payment of foreign debts promulgated together with Decree No. 134/2005/ND-CP and supply them to the Finance Ministry, including:

a/ Long-term strategies on foreign loans and payment of foreign debts;

b/ Strategies and plannings on ODA attraction and use;

c/ Annual reports on ODA mobilization and use according to current regulations on ODA management and use.

4. The General Statistics Office shall biannually and annually supply the Finance Ministry with data related to national accounts, including:

a/ GDP calculated at actual prices and comparative prices;

b/ Consumer price indexes (CPI);

c/ Turnovers of exported goods and services; growth rate of turnovers of exported goods and services.

5. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies and provincial/municipal People's Committees shall make sum-up reports in accordance with Article 34 of the Regulation on management of foreign loans and payment of foreign debts promulgated together with Decree No. 134/2005/ND-CP, including:

a/ Biannual and annual reports on foreign loans, use of foreign loans and payment of foreign debts of their branches and localities;

b/ Annual reports on state budget estimates of their ministries, branches and localities, clearly stating the to be-withdrawn amounts of foreign loans, allocation of matching funds to programs and projects according to the Government's schedule of making annual state budget estimates.

6. Re-lending agencies shall collect data on loans to be re-lent in order to make and send periodical reports to concerned agencies in accordance with re-lending authorization agreements (contracts); and make reports according to the forms in Appendix III to this Regulation (not printed herein).

7. Enterprises and credit institutions shall report on foreign loans and payment of foreign debts to the Vietnam State Bank according to the regulations of the Vietnam State Bank Governor.

8. Owners of ODA programs and projects shall collect information and make reports on foreign loans and payment of foreign debts according to the Government's current regulations on ODA management and use.

Article 8.- Sum-up reports to be submitted to the Prime Minister

Annually, the Finance Ministry shall send sum-up reports on the country's foreign loans and payment of foreign debts to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the State Bank of Vietnam. Such a report comprises the following principal contents:

1. Balance of the country's foreign debts classified according to the criteria specified in Article 5 of this Regulation.

2. Implementation of, and annual plans on, the Government's foreign loans and payment of foreign debts (including the Government-guaranteed debts).

3. Implementation of, and plans on, enterprises' foreign loans and payment of foreign debts.

4. Total limits of foreign commercial loans of enterprises, public-sector organizations and the whole country.

Article 9.- Time limit for submitting and sending reports and data

1. The time limit for ministries, branches and localities to send reports and data to the Finance Ministry and concerned agencies:

a/ For biannual reports: ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provinces and centrally run cities shall send the reports by July 31. After summing up those reports, the Finance Ministry shall send them to concerned agencies by August 31;

b/ For annual reports: ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provinces and centrally run cities shall send reports for a year by February 15 of the subsequent year.

2. Time limit for submitting reports to the Prime Minister:

Reports specified in Article 8 of this Regulation shall be submitted by the Finance Ministry to the Prime Minister and concerned agencies by March 31 of the subsequent year.

Article 10.- Security regime

The collection, management, exploitation and use of databases and the publication of foreign debt information specified in this Regulation shall comply with state regulations on security.

Chapter III

PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION ON FOREIGN DEBTS

Article 11.- Competence to publish information on foreign debts

1. The Finance Minister shall publish and supply information on the Government's and the country's foreign loans and payment of foreign debts through publishing news bulletins on foreign debts in accordance with law.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies and presidents of provincial/municipal People's Committees have the competence to publish foreign debt information within the branches or domains under their respective management and shall ensure consistency of that information with data and documents already supplied to the Finance Ministry in accordance with this Regulation.

Article 12.- Responsibility to publish information

1. The Finance Ministry shall assume the prime responsibility for publishing news bulletins on foreign debts which carry information on the Government's foreign debts and the country's foreign loans and payment of foreign debts, and archive the published news bulletins on foreign debts in accordance with law.

2. The Ministry of Planning and Investment, the State Bank of Vietnam, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and provincial/municipal People's Committees shall:

a/ Coordinate with the Finance Ministry in publishing information on the country's foreign debts;

b/ Decide on forms, time limit and contents of to be-published foreign debt information within the branches or domains under their respective management;

c/ Archive data and documents already supplied to the Finance Ministry in order to publish information in accordance with law.

Article 13.- Forms of publishing new bulletins on foreign debts

1. The Finance Ministry shall publish biannual news bulletins on foreign debts in Vietnamese and English in the forms of printed publications and data on its website.

2. Foreign debt information published in those news bulletins is supplied according to the forms in Appendix IV to this Regulation (not printed herein).

Article 14.- Funds for publication of news bulletins on foreign debts

Funds for the printing, distribution and publication of news bulletins on foreign debts are included in the Finance Ministry's annual operation fund estimates.